Seoul- Birthday Weekend Fun!

For my birthday weekend, I went to South Korea with my friends Kim, Matt and Asha. We stayed in Seoul from Sunday night to Tuesday afternoon.

Seoul was amazing. We found great shopping areas everywhere. Insadong had great souvenir shops and an interesting mall with tons of cute things to see & buy.

When I was shopping in Dongdaemun, I felt like I was in the K-drama "Cinderella Man". I thought that I was going to turn a corner and bump into Yoon Ah trying to sell me a dress. (^_-) It was really cool. I also loved the Myeong-dong area. This area had both street vendors and regular stores like Forever 21 & Zara. It had the best of both worlds.

Just by reading this, you can tell that I did a good amount of shopping in Seoul including a sweater, winter hat, coat, souvenirs for school, a cute necklace & socks.Yes, I bought many , maybe too many, socks. lol.

Another thing we did in Myeong-dong, besides shopping, was watching a play. It was called Nanta and it was about a group of chefs that had to prepare a variety of dishes for a wedding. There was barely any dialogue and yet it was really funny. Most of the music in the show was performed with things found in a kitchen, such as utensils, pots, cutting boards, etc. All of us enjoyed it.

Seoul wasn't all about shopping & entertainment. We also did a bit of sightseeing. We went to Gyeongbok Palace. It was really beautiful. The fall leaves made it even more stunning. Even the cold couldn't damper my excitement. I took tons of pictures and videos with my camera.

We also went to the DMZ (the demilitarized zone), which is the strip of land between North and South Korea. When I was there, I kept thinking about how I was taking part in dark tourism. However, it was really interesting. We were able to walk through the third tunnel, which was a tunnel that crosses the dmz and was dug out by North Korea to invade South Korea. We were also able to see North Korea through binoculars that they have for tourists.

Another place we went to was Samcheong-dong. I loved this neighborhood. It had really cute coffee shops, restaurants, shops and galleries. We went there on our last day before we had to go to the airport. It was a nice place to have our final goodbye.

Ok, and now for the most important thing: FOOD. I love Korean food and it was one of the many reasons that I was excited to go on this trip. The food that I ate there did not let me down. Everything I ate was super DELICIOUS! My taste buds and tummy were very happy.

By the end of the trip, we were all extremely happy with our trip, sad that it was over so quick and singing along to SHINee's "Ring, Ding, Dong" song.


What is "Ring Ding Dong" you ask, well here it is for your viewing pleasure.





You can check out my pictures of Seoul in my Flickr Account

Tokyo Tower Video

I put a video up on Youtube that I took when I was in Tokyo Tower. If you are interested to see the view from the observation deck, you can check out the video here:

Tokyo/Saitama Adventures: Concert, Shopping & Hanging Out

Today I will be posting about my Tokyo/ Saitama trip that I took last week.

First, let me rewind a bit. On Friday (the 9th), my friends and I went out to dinner and then we went to a karaoke bar. It was me, Asha, Matt, Kim, Alex and Sarah. We had a great time. First, we ate super delicious food. Then, we sang our lungs out in a smokey karaoke bar. What else could we have asked for?

Anyway, by Sunday, 4 of us were really sick. I was having problems with my asthma and I felt feverish. Asha, Alex and Sarah were throwing up and having flu symptoms. I went to the doctor on Monday with Paul and found out that I had bronchitis. My other 3 friends had swine flu. Whoah!

I felt really sick on Monday, but I had tickets for a Mariza concert in Tokyo on Wednesday. I was really worried that I wouldn't feel better on time. However, I did feel better on Wednesday morning (the 14th), although not fully recovered. I rushed to the airport to catch my plane from Miyazaki to Tokyo. I arrived there right when they were boarding. Close Call!

Once I got to Haneda Airport, I had to take a bus and a train to Saitama, where my friends, Monica and Eric, live. It is also the place that I stayed at while I was there. Monica and Eric used to be my neighbors last year. They were Miyazaki ALTs, but now Eric is studying in Tokyo. Basically, Saitama is to Tokyo what New Jersey is to NYC. It's where many families live although a lot of its residents travel daily for jobs, shopping, entertainment, etc to Tokyo.

Anyway, by the time I arrived in Saitama, it was midday. Eric, Monica and I hung out a bit in their house and ate lunch. Then, Monica and I got ready to go to the Mariza concert. Mariza is a Portuguese fado singer. We were in the third row, so we were super close to her. The concert was AMAZING!!! The audience was mostly older Japanese people, but there were also people from all over the world. At one point, she asked where people were from. There were Portuguese people, of course, but there were also people from Russia, China, Italy, Iran, Mozambique, Angola, Sweden, etc. At one point, I grabbed Monica's hand and raised it and said "America". She came to us and asked us where we were from in the States. I said Jersey and Monica said California. Then, she talked about how she was going to Jersey for a concert next month. I was just super excited that she talked to me during her concert. SOOOO COOOOL!!!

I think that I used up too much of my energy on Wednesday night. On Thursday, Monica and I were tired and I still wasn't fully recovered from my bronchitis. We just ended up hanging out in her house, watching Nana (both the movie & anime) and just catching up on what had been going on in our lives lately.

On Friday, we met up with Eric at school. Eric is in grad school at Keio University, so he showed me around the university. It's beautiful. Then, we went to Tokyo Tower, which is nearby. When we got up to the observation deck, we were able to see great views of Tokyo from all sides.

Tokyo Tower

View from the Tower

There were also lookout windows on the floor. Scary! I was the one on the bottom that barely had her feet on the window. It was too scary for me. lol. Monica was rocking her moon boots though (^_-)
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On Saturday, Monica and I went to Harajuku to do some shopping. I went to Harajuku the last time I was in Saitama when I was helping Eric and Monica move and I really like it there. Our goal was to go to H&M & Forever 21 (I haven't been to a Forever 21 since I left the States and I haven't been to an H&M since I went to Hong Kong last May) , but somehow, we kept getting distracting by all of the cute stores on our way there. I bought tons of things. I bought a black hat for the winter. It was my second one that I bought that day because I bought a pink one in Saitama before getting on the train. I also bought hair accessories, 2 skirts (1 skirt was kind of tutu like), scarf, boots, and cute socks. My goal was to buy a winter coat, but I didn't find any that I really liked. I wish I could have bought a super cute lolita outfit, but they are really expensive. Monica had to leave to go to a farewell party for a friend, so poor Eric, who had met up with us, had to follow me around while I went from store to store. lol.
Anther highlight, I ate Wendys. Why is Wendys a highlight? Well, Miyazaki doesn't have any, so I hadn't had Wendys since I left the States, which was over a year ago. It was mighty delicious, but they had no baked potatoes. I really wanted one.


On Sunday, I decided to do some more shopping/ sightseeing before catching a train to the airport. Monica and I went to Akihabara because I wanted some cute headphones. Akihabara is like a men's world. It's full of electronics stores & stores that have anime products. Because of this, there are tons of guys all over the place. At one point, we were crossing a busy intersection and it was like a sea of men walking our way from the opposite side. Do I exaggerate? I don't think so.

Akihabara also has a lot of maid cafes, so there are girls in cute maid costumes passing out flyers for the cafes that they work at. I would have loved to go to one just to check it out. It must be really cute, but we didn't really have that much time. In Akihabara, I did find cute, pink headphones for cheap and a nice keyboard for my laptop. Woohoo!!!

Since we had a little bit of time left, I decided to go to Ginza to buy some shoes that I saw at the Muji store on the first day I arrived in Tokyo. ( We were window shopping before the concert. )

Shopping in Harajuku

Akihabara
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I had fun on my trip and I bought a lot of goodies.
It was hard to leave Eric and Monica again. They are such cool people. I miss them being my neighbors. Although I think I was at their apartment way too often when they lived in Miyazaki. lol.

I want to go to Tokyo again in the future. Actually, I wouldn't mind just living there for a year. How cool would that be? (^_^)

Silver Week 2009 Trip - Kansai Region- "for the culture & the boys"

Last month during Silver Week, September 19th to the 23rd, Asha and I took a trip to the Kansai region of Japan. We stayed in a hostel, J-Hoppers, in Osaka the whole time, but we took trains to visit Kyoto and Nara as well. The trip was a lot of fun.

We took a plane from Miyazaki to Osaka on Saturday evening. When we arrived at Osaka, we had to figure out a way to get to the hostel. Of course we ended up getting a little bit lost. One of the directions that the hostel gave us was to turn and walk down the colorful street. By the time we arrived in Osaka, it was already dark, so the street wasn't really all that colorful. lol. We had no idea why the hostel had written that on their website until we walked down the street in the morning and realized that it indeed was colorful. lol.

Since we arrived late, we had to look for a restaurant that was still open. This was a challenge because a lot of them were closed or were closing. Then, we happened to find a Brazilian lounge with food. This made me super happy because I hadn't had any Brazilian food in so long. It was also really cool to hear a mixture of Portuguese and Japanese. Most of the people there were either Brazilian immigrants or children of immigrants, so they would mix both languages when they were talking. It was really cool. It was also nice to finally understand what people were saying around me. lol. (^_^)

The rest of the time we were there, we mostly tried to go to different temples in Kyoto. For example, we went to Fushimi Inari Shrine, Sanjusangen-do Temple and Kiyomizu-dera Temple. We also went to Gion where we ran into a Maiko (apprentice geisha) and we went to a flee market in To-Ji Temple. Kyoto is really an amazing place. I recommend it to anyone who is traveling to Japan.

On the last day we were in Kansai, we went to Nara. We went to Todai-ji Temple. The temple is known for having a huge bronze statue of Buddha. It was an amazing site. SInce it was our last day, we still tried to make it to Kyoto for one last temple, Kinkaku-Ji, but it was already closed when we got there. Oopppss! I guess if we ever have a chance to go back to Kyoto in the future, that temple has to be on the top of our list of things to see.

Throughout the trip we had certain quotes that both of us said a lot. For example, Asha would usually say "I'm here for the culture and the boys" and she was right. lol. We saw a lot of cute boys. I fell in love with a waiter in Osaka. He was GORGEOUS, but if you ask Asha about him, she will say "Uhhh...no I don't think so. He was not cute". lol. I thought he was soooo cute!
I also had a crush on the "Information Desk" worker at the Osaka train station. Yes, we took the trip "for the culture and the boys".

Then, there were the boys that we didn't want around us. In one of the trains from Tokyo to Osaka, there were a group of young guys sitting across from us, who were super obnoxious. They were trying to figure out what to say to us in English. Of course, the only thing they seemed to know and thought was appropriate to say to us was "Sex Friend? I like sex" and "I have penis", except they pronounced it as "penes". We ended up leaving the train and catching another one.

The quote that I kept saying on our trip was "Let's see what happens". A lot of times, we didn't exactly know how to get to certain places and we weren't sure what people were telling us, but I would just say "Let's see what happens" and hope that the train and/or bus would get us to the right destination. It worked, for the most part. We did get lost a couple of times, but it was mostly OK.

We did have other weird moments in Kyoto that had nothing to do with the opposite sex or our bad sense of direction. Once, we were on a train from Osaka to Kyoto. Half way there, everyone was told to get off of the train. All of us had to then wait on the track for another train. We have no idea what happened.

This happened to us again, but on a bus. We were on a bus going to Kyoto Station. The bus was full. At one stop, this guy, who seemed to have special needs, put his hands to his head and ran to the front of the bus and got off. Two older people followed after him. When this happened, the bus driver decided to kick all of us off the bus. Asha and I had already commented on how stressed the bus driver looked, so it was both a surprise and yet not shocking when he told all of us to get off. lol.

All in all, it was a great trip. Osaka is a typical busy city & Kyoto and Nara are beautiful. There are so many more things that I would like to see, but I didn't have the chance to, so I would definitely like to go back.

This is me at Fushimi Inari Shrine

This is the Maiko (apprentice Geisha) we saw in Gion. Asha took this picture.

This is me at Kyoto Station.



For more pictures of my trip to Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara you can go to my Flickr Silver Week Album:
www.flickr.com/photos/stefy29/sets/72157622438285894/

Music & TV Current Guilty Pleasures

Ok so this post is about my current obsessions.These are the things that I've been enjoying lately in the pop-culture- media world.

MUSIC

G-Dragon is my new K-Pop guilty pleasure. G-Dragon is the leader of the Korean boy band Big Bang, who are great in their own right. However, G-Dragon released his first solo album in August and I have been loving all of the music I have heard. Yes, it has been tainted with many plagiarism rumors, but who knows how it all went down. All I know, is that I am enjoying the album & G-Dragon's crazy fashion. I adore that boy.



I also really like 2ne1's mini album. Their music is really catchy. They debuted this year under the same label as G-Dragon, YG Entertainment, and I've been listening to them a lot this past month.

TV

Like many others, I am loving Glee. I was so excited when it came out. It takes 2 of my favorite things, TV series & musicals, and puts them together with a dash of comedy. I've enjoyed all 4 episodes that I have seen and I can't wait for more. Here is a clip-

Another tv series that I have become addicted to is the Taiwanese drama It Started With a Kiss (2005-2006 series) and it's sequel They Kiss Again (2007-2008 series). It's about a girl in her last year of high school who adores the intelligent, cool guy in school, but he turns her down. She ends up living with him and his family because her house gets damaged in an earthquake and her father is good friends with his parents. He eventually softens up to her. The sequel picks up in their first year of college until they begin their careers.

Although acted well by Ariel Lin, the female character sometimes gets annoying because of how super clingy and dependent she is of the male character, Jiang Zhi Shu, especially in the 2nd season. However, a big part of that season was Zhi Shu trying to make her become more independent, so that she didn't rely on him so much. He also had to deal with his own commitment issues and his coldness towards her.

The show is addictive. It draws you in and even when you get frustrated at the characters, you still can't turn away. I loved the chemistry between the 2 main actors, Ariel Lin and Joe Cheng. It's one of those dramas that I would rewatch over and over again. Here is a fan made video with scenes from the sequel They Kiss Again. If you are interested in the series, you can stream it on sites like MySoju www.mysoju.com/it-started-with-a-kiss/ & Dramacrazy www.dramacrazy.net/v/taiwanese-drama/it-started-with-a-kiss/

Nagasaki/ Obon Weekend

I know that this entry should have been written a month ago. Oooppps! Sorry!

On August 13th to the 16th for the Obon weekend, I took a trip to Nagasaki by myself. I caught a bus from Miyazaki to Nagasaki. It took about 5 1/2 hours, but the bus was comfortable and it stopped twice at rest stops, so that we could stretch our legs.

Once we arrived, I took the tram to get to the hostel. Of course I ended up taking the wrong tram and had to back track. Once I got out of the tram, I started looking around at my surroundings and trying to figure out which way to go next. Two girls got off the tram with luggage at the same time as me and asked if I was going to Akari hostel. We ended up walking together to the hostel and later we found out that we were placed as roommates at the hostel. Funny Coincidence! They were only there for 1 night though. The rest of the time I was there, my roommates were Interac ALTs from up north.

Overall, my trip was great. Nagasaki is a wonderful city. It reminded me a bit of Macau because it is clearly influenced by a variety of cultures from both the West and East.

One of the most important, but most emotionally difficult places to visit is the Atomic Bomb Museum. Certain images are just so painful to even witness. However it's important for people to learn about the horrors caused by the bomb, so that we do not repeat the past.

Another great place to visit in Nagasaki is Glover Garden. It has many European resident houses from the Meiji period. There are also good views of Nagasaki city. I was surprised to see a statue of Giacomo Puccini and a statue of his opera Madame Butterfly in the garden. I did not know that Madame Butterfly was based on events that occurred in Nagasaki in the 1890s until I got there.

My hostel, Akari hostel, was great. We had an event every night. On the first night, many of the guests from the hostel got together and did fireworks together. On my second night, we took a cable car to the top of Mt. Inasa to see the Nagasaki night view.

However, the highlight of my trip was probably the Obon festival in the street. Obon or "Day of the Dead" is a custom of honoring the deceased spirit's of one's ancestors. In Nagasaki, families create floats with lanterns and pictures of their deceased family members. I even saw a float for deceased pets. They would walk around the streets with these floats while fire crackers were going out everywhere. It was really noisy because of all the firecrackers. Once I got there, I realized why the conbini had ear plugs at the front of the register to purchase. lol. However, it was a really interesting festival to observe. I was glad that I got to see it.

I really enjoyed my time in Nagasaki. If you are in Kyushu, you should stop by. That's after you visit Miyazaki, of course. (^_^)

You can go to my Flickr account for pictures of Nagasaki- www.flickr.com/photos/stefy29/sets/72157621938467771/

Donuts Time: Chocolate, Glazed, or Green Tea?

I'm starting to believe that Japanese people can take any food or drink and create a green tea version of that product. Since I've been here, I've had many different green tea flavored products, such as coke, ice cream and now donuts.

Mister Donut , which is similar to Dunkin Donuts back home, is now selling matcha (green tea) flavored donuts. They have a variety of green tea donuts, which are just a spin off of their staple donuts. I have to admit that I was curious, so one day I walked in and ordered one.





The donut was ok. If you like green tea ice cream, than I think that you would definitely like these donuts. Although I do like green tea, I never really love green tea flavored products. I have to admit, I like my donuts much more sugary, glazed or filled with creamy goodness. Yes, I go for the donuts that are definitely high on the "Super Unhealthy: Get Away" meter. If I go back to Mister Donut, I'll most likely go for a regular glazed donut instead of a green tea donut.



Music Listening to At the Moment: "Irvine" by Kelly Clarkson

Biking Around Miyazaki: The Beauty, The Thrill, The Soreness Afterwards

Kim and I like to take random bike trips once in awhile. That's why back in June we decided to do a bike trip from Miyazaki city to Aya town, which is about 26 km. Basically, there is a bike route with signs to tell us where to go and how far we are to our destination.






It starts in downtown Miyazaki and goes along the Oyodo river. The path was mostly flat, with only a couple of hills here and there. Although it was far, the scenery and beauty of Miyazaki is well worth it. Yes, you do mostly see rice fields, the river and a whole lot of countryside, but for a city girl like me, the view on our way to Aya and then back to Miyazaki was breathtaking.









The bike ride also seemed to go faster because Kim and I took it easy, instead of speeding through the bike route. We also chatted, laughed, took in the scenery and  enjoyed ourselves.


Miyazaki prefecture is so underrated and unappreciated. I'm constantly left speechless by my surroundings and experiences here.

To see more pictures of our trip, you can go to my flickr album.

Green Tea Coke Review

Ok so I wrote this like a month ago, but I never got around to post it. Without further adieu:


I found out from my friend Eric that the green tea flavored Coca Cola had already hit the shelves. Of course I had to try it. Eric had given me a bad review of the soda, although somehow he loves it now. Anyway, I had to taste it for myself. On Sunday, I walked into a 7-11 and bought the cola. I opened the bottle (swish) and swallowed a big gulp down, hoping that it would be delicious. I immediately regretted that deep gulp of blahness. The Coke is advertised as green tea flavored, but it tastes nothing like green tea. Actually, the Coke tastes just like Diet Coke, which I'm also not a fan of. Supposedly this new coke has antioxidants and it's 0 calories. However, if I want something healthy, I would rather drink water, iced green tea, or 100% fruit juice. This new drink was a complete FAIL for me.




In other news, Shiso Coke has also hit the shelves. I don't think that I will be trying that any time soon. I don't like the flavor of shiso, so I can't imagine that I would enjoy drinking Shiso flavored Coke.

Work & Books

Lately, my confidence as an ALT has not been very high. I feel like I can't read the students and their abilities properly. I'm also not that creative with lesson plans. I'm not the type of ALT who is able to create endless games and activites when given a theme or goal for a lesson. I really wish I was. However, I do love the students and the school. They are all good kids. I wish I could be a better teacher for them. I guess I just have to try harder. Yes, I will keep a smile on my face and try to do my best even when the kids look at me in silence with a "WTF -is-she-saying face". Sigh!

In other Stephanie news, I can't believe how little I've been reading. I need to step up my game. In six months, I've only read 7 books. Geez, I would have liked to have read more. I blame it on all of the tv series that I have been watching lately. lol.
Anyway, here is my recent list of books that I have read this year:

1. PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
2. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
3. At the Bride Hunt Ball by Olivia Parker
4. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
5. The Girl Most Likely To... by Susan Donovan
6. Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
7. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Lunch Time: Where's My Bento?

Let me take some time to talk about bentos. Bentos are lunch boxes. Usually, they are home made. However, you can buy take out bentos from places like convenience stores or Hotto Motto, which is a takeout bento chain restaurant.

In the States, when I think of lunch boxes, I think of sandwiches or last night's dinner in tuberware. This is not true here in Japan.

Bentos here tend to be actual meals, not a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. They are also thought through carefully before they are made. Housewives will have strategies about where they should put food and how the food should look, so that the overall bento not only tastes good but it looks mighty appetizing and pretty.  This is why many times little kids might have little sausages that  look like cute octopus.

At school, most of the kids bring bentos made by their mothers. I remember once I went with one of the clubs to a special competition. All of the kids had nice bentos. However, one girl had food from the convenience store like me. Before this day, I always felt bad for the housewives and working mothers who had to labor away every day and make these bentos for their kids and husbands. However, that day, I felt bad for the kid because she was the only one without one. It was strange to see it from the other side. Instead of thinking about the bento through the woman's perspective, I was realizing how important it was through my student's perspective.

Students of course are not the only ones with bentos. Many married people who work with me also bring their bento to work. Men have the bento that their wives made for them. Women have the bento that they made for themselves, probably after they had made their children's and then husband's bento.
Most of the single crowd, including myself, just end up buying a bento from school or we get lunch from somewhere else. Sad! I need to find a guy that would make a cute bento for me. lol. That would probably be very difficult to find. lol.

Anyway, here is a link that has really cute bentos. These are all works of art. The kitty one is super adorable. Take a look here.

Lady Gaga is a Hop, Skip & Expensive Plane Ride Away From Me! Wow!

For some Lady Gaga news. Yes, Lady Gaga. Don't make fun of me. lol.

I do like Lady Gaga. She has some catchy tunes and her craziness keeps people interested in her.

However, I have no idea why she decided to arrive in Tokyo with this outfit.

I don't even feel comfortable enough in Miyazaki to walk around in a tank top and she is wearing ripped leggings.

Ok, so maybe girls here wear the shortest skirts I have ever seen, but for some reason, their top part is always fully covered. Maybe Lady Gaga is taking notes and covering up her top part, but showing off everything in the bottom half of her body. However, she really could have done a better job at perfected the semi-nakedness fashion technique. I'm horrible at fashion, but even I know that can't be good.

I know that this post was pretty pointless, but it keeps my mind off of the next class that I have to teach. Ahhhh!!!



Music currently Listening to: Lady Gaga "Love Game"

New Hair Cut: Please Don't Look At Me Like That

This week I finally got my straight perm (2nd since I've been here) and my haircut. Before I show you my hair cut, I wanted to tell you my inspiration for it. I was walking around Tsutaya book store and I wandered over the magazine section. I looked to my right and BOOM the hair that I've been wanting to pull off suddenly appeared in the form of a magazine cover. Let me give you some background information before I continue on with my hair cut journey so that you can better understand my instant hesitation after picking up the magazine. I'm terrified of bangs. Ok, maybe terrified is too strong a word. Actually, I just haven't had bangs since I was like 9 years old. My mom and I never really liked how bangs looked on me, so I grew them out and never looked back. Truthfully, I never even thought of looking back until I saw the haircut.

Anyway, Utada was on the cover of the magazine and I really liked the haircut on her. I showed the magazine to Monica and I stood there waiting for her to turn the idea down. Yes, I fully intended to put that magazine right back down. Monica however said that I should take a picture of it and take it to the beauty salon with me. I thought "Oh crap, that's not the reaction I was waiting for". I thought about it and thought about it. I took a picture and thought about it some more. I kept trying to imagine what I would look like with bangs, but the image would just not come to me. Finally, I just bought the magazine and decided to go for it.

Ok, so maybe I didn't actually decide to go for it right away. I sent the picture to Matt, Kim, and Asha to see what their reactions would be. Kim was a complete "YES". Asha was a "Uhhh...I don't know". Matt didn't even reply back because he didn't want to tell me that he thought it might be a bad idea.

Then, I asked my parents. First I asked my dad. Instead of commenting on the hair, he commented on the pretty girl (Utada) on the cover. Once I got him to focus again, he said that I should do it. My mother however, was as scared of the bangs as I was.

Monday rolled around and I decided to finally go to the beauty salon. This is where I tell you the differences between my beauty salon here in Miyazaki to my beauty salon back home. In the salon here, not only do they have magazines to pass the time, but they also have mangas that we can read while waiting or getting our hair cut. Maybe that's why I see so many college kids with crazy anime/manga hair. Those host boys have to be influenced by something for their crazy hair. Maybe it's the manga they read at the beauty salon.

The next difference is that my beauty salon here has a variety of drinks that I can ask for free of charge while they are working on my hair. In my 3 1/2 hour process of straight perming and cutting my hair, I drank a cup of iced oolong tea and a cup of iced coffee.

Another thing that I like is that they put a blanket on your lap when they wash your hair. At least that's what they do in my super cool hair salon.

What's the best difference between my hair salon here compared to the one back home. I'm going to get a lot of flack for this, but I think that the boys that work in my hair salon here are much cooler. They tend to have cool hairstyles, cool hair and just an all around cool aura. Yes, I wrote cool 3 times in one sentence. That just shows their coolness factor that I'm hit with every time I walk into a salon here. Please don't curse me out. I'm just comparing my hair salons. I'm sorry if you are a super cool hair stylist boy in America. I don't mean to offend you. Maybe I should go to your hair salon when I return back home.

Moving on...here is my new hair cut.



As for my inspiration, you can find it at Utada Hikaru's website.

I have to admit that I was so scared when the hair stylist gave me bangs. When she took her scissors out, I told her how scared I was. My Japanese is horrible, but I think that at least I was able to relay that to her through my weird giggling and sudden movements every time I saw the scissors going to that area. All in all, I think it came out OK. It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would be, but it also doesn't look as good as it does on Utada. I think that once I grow out my bangs I will like it more or maybe I just have to get used to them.

Since I got it, I've had mixed reviews. Some people like it, including Matt who was the one who at first hesitated when I showed him the picture I took from the magazine. Other people don't like it so much, so they worked extra hard to think of a compliment. lol.
I'm ok with it, which is what matters. :)




Music currently Listening to: Utada "This One (Crying Life a Child)

Potty Trained: What is that Noise?

Today I thought that maybe I should talk about the toilet experience here in Japan from a woman's perspective. No, don't run away yet. I'm not going to be gross. I'm just going to talk about the awkward noises that we make when we urinate. Yes, urinate. You read it right. Here in Japan, many women are embarrassed by the noise they make when they urinate. When females go to a public bathroom, it is normal to hear women flushing the toilet as they are urinating, so that people can't hear the noise. Because this practice consumes so much water, many toilets are equipped with a button that you can press that will make the flushing noise without actually flushing. Sometimes, it even makes other noises, such as birds chirping.

I know that this sounds strange to a foreigner's perspective. Believe me, when I first arrived in Japan, I had no idea why any woman would be embarrassed by the sound of their own urine. I mean if they were doing anything else that must be done in a bathroom, then maybe I could understand. However, why urinating?

Because I didn't want to stand out, I started flushing at school while I was urinating (oh what a waste of water) and pressing the noise button when I was in a public restroom. When you are a foreigner, you already stand out so much that you do anything to stand out less.

Anyway, after being here for 10 months, I have realized that I have fallen into the same embarrassment trap. It's still about fitting in, but to a big degree, I'm also getting really self-conscious about the noise too. I don't know when this happened. I just know that recently I went to a public restroom with a friend. It was only me and this other foreigner. I made myself not flush because what was the point. It was not like there was a Japanese woman to hear me. However, the whole time I was urinating, I was so self conscious about the sound, how loud it was and how strange it was that my friend could hear me. I have fallen into the same mind set that I would have joked about a year ago.

I truly believe that we can't understand something in another culture until we put ourselves into that culture. Sometimes, even when we do that, it's still difficult because we have not lived in it our entire lives and we have our own culture in the back of our minds. However, at least it makes it a bit easier to understand the people of that culture and why they do the things that they do.

Asian Idols: Business, Pop Culture & Some Catchy Tunes

I have a new song stuck in my head at all times of the day. The song is called Yue Lai Yue Ai (越來越愛) , or Loving You More and More by Fahrenheit.





Fahrenheit is a Taiwanese boy band. Each member of the band has his own season and temperature to coincide with the boy band name. No, I'm not making this up. lol. They are Taiwanese but they have done some songs in Japanese. I guess they want to be like BOA (Korean) or Arashi (Japanese), with huge success all over Asia.

I just found out about them because I was watching a really good Taiwanese drama (ToGetHer) and the opening and closing song is sung by them. Then, when I looked into it, I realized that the main actor in the drama, Jiro Wang, was one of the singers in the band. It's kind of like MatsuJun doing Hana Yori Dango with his band Arashi doing the theme songs. The same is true with the Korean version of Hana Yori Dango, except it's the actor that plays Rui Hanazawa's (Ji Hoo) character,Kim Hyun Joong, who is in the band SS501 .

Asian idol machines and pop culture is so interesting. They really know how to get a big pay off with an idol's 15 minutes of fame. They just squeeze these celebrities dry with movies, music, tv, modeling, products, ads etc. Once they are used goods and the new thing is here, the cycle begins again with the new talent. It's so much more intense than in the States. An idol in the States, like the 'NSYNC boys, are supposed to sing, but people don't expect them to act as well and do a million other things. In Asia, they are expected to have many preforming talents.
Man, I love pop culture. Sorry for the long useless blog. I just love this shit.


Anyway, to end this post, I'll put the music video for Fahrenheit's closing theme song to ToGetHer. It's called MoMo (默默) or Silently. The song is great and you can see scenes from the tv drama.









By the way, just FYI, when I was in Hong Kong (Golden Week vacation), I heard Utada's English album everywhere. I would go into stores and they would be playing it. I thought that was cool.

The Art of Karaoke

Before coming to Japan, I had never done karaoke in my life. That changed really quick since i got here. Karaoke is a great destresser and just a fun way to spend time with your friends. However, I also learned that there are rules to karaoke. Rules that I haven't been able to master since I've been here. No, it's not only singing into a mic. Karaoke is an art. If you are with a group of foreigners, we just end up singing all together. Put on a Queen song or heck Whitney's "Dance With Somebody" and everyone is up on their feet and singing as loud as they can, in not so perfect unison.

I learned that Japanese people do not do this. Oh no! Each person gets a verse, lines, chorus, whatever. Somehow, everyone knows when to sing and when to let the other person sing. If it's a huge group, it is not uncommon to see them pass the mic down so that everyone can get a chance to sing individually.

I witnessed these unspoken rules again this weekend when my friends and I went to a karaoke bar. We were 3 Americans, 1 Trinidadian, and 2 Japanese (1 we had just met that morning at the beach but that's a whole other story). Anyway, when we chose a song (Akon "Right Now Na Na Na"), we all sang out the lyrics so that even the bar down the hall could hear us. Oh boy, what a scene. Our 2 Japanese friends did not say anything, but they sure showed us how it was done.

Let me just remind you that one of them we met that morning, so those two had never actually talked until that night. Anyway, they agreed on a song (Exile of course) and then started singing. One would sing one verse, another would sing another, they would sing the chorus in perfect unison and well, it was karaoke magic. They later did a Japanese hip-hop song with the same ease and perfection. I was thoroughly impressed. Of course, us foreigners had to ruin it by singing out Whitney Houston to the dismay of everyone's ears.

ALTs have to go through so many different orientation workshops. Most of them are useless and quite truthfully, I don't remember 95 percent of what I was told. However, someone should do a karaoke orientation. It could fall under the topic Life in Japan. We should really learn so that we could stop embarrassing ourselves. lol.

Music Listening To At The Moment: Utada "Apple & Cinnamon"

If Only I was a Lesson Plan Whiz

Before going on vacation (Oh yeah I went on vacation which I'll write more about later) I made a lesson plan for this week. I tried to simplify, simplify and simplify it more, but it still seemed difficult. I decided to try it out today with the first class, who are considered an advanced class. Of course, they didn't really understand it. The teacher that I team taught with said she would take a look at it and figure out how she can make it more simple because she realized that I didn't know how to dumb it down anymore. She has so much work already, so I felt bad accepting her help, but I really didn't know what to do with it anymore. The other ALT that comes to this school on Mondays is going to do the same lesson next period and I'm a bit nervous about how it's going to go.

Yay for Indoor Sneakers

I'm grateful for bringing my indoor sneakers today. The Opening Ceremony, which is when the students get to meet the new teachers and find out who will be teaching them, was today. That meant that everyone had to go to the gym. If I hadn't brought in my indoor sneakers, everyone would see my frog toe socks. Talk about not making a good impression. lol.

One more thing

I am also grateful for the teachers who just transferred in. They are still cleaning their hearts out and they cleaned 90 percent or more than I did. Making a good impression is difficult. I don't really remember what I did 8 months ago. Since it was summer, I was usually one of the only people in the office. I should be grateful for that to. I didn't really know how to act to make a good impression in the teacher's office and I don't think I even know now.

And the Things I'm Most Grateful For Are...

Things that I am grateful for this morning.

First:

My new supervisor is awesome. He actually tells me what is going on. After the staff meeting, which of course I didn't understand a word, he went up to me and said this is going on first period and this is where the teachers are going 2nd period. That's amazing. I don't think people realize here that just simply giving basic information to the ALT (for instance in 2nd period everyone is going to the gym) it makes the ALT much happier and much more pleasant to work with.

This morning, my supervisor was also teaching me how to answer the phone and what to say on the phone. Ahhhhhh!!!! That is really great of him and it shows that he actually believes me to be an actual person in the office, instead of a thing in a bubble. lol. However, how can I tell him that I'm afraid of phones? (I blame it on previous jobs lol) I'm especially afraid of phones in a Japanese office. I might say the wrong thing, not understand or be impolite. Oh dear!

Well he is taking the time to teach me so I should pick up a phone a couple of times, as I shake with horror and embarrassment. lol. The first couple of times are always the hardest for everything I guess.

Second Thing I'm grateful for:

There is a cleaning time first period. Ok, so I usually hate cleaning times. However, the kids have been gone for Spring Break, so no cleaning has been happening. Let's just say that the trash has been piling up. It's reaching dangerous heights (ok I'm exaggerating again). Anyway, the trash needs to be put out and I am thankful for these high school kids and their cleaning ways. Thank You! Arigatou!

Yummilicious

As promised, here are the pictures of the Mister Donuts egg shaped donuts. As seen in the commercial.





I ate the strawberry and custard donut. Both of them were delicious. Monica ate the chocolate one and she said that it was really good too.

Why Is My Floor Shaking?

On Sunday, I had lunch with Eric and Monica at Starbucks. After that, we went across the street to this cute stationary store that I never even realized was there. I bought a notebook because I couldn't help myself. I'm a notebook buying addict. I also bought a Rilakkuma mechanical pencil because he is so cute. By the way, right before going into the store, I had gone into Lawsons (convenience store) and purchased candy in order to get free Rilakkuma folders. Who doesn't like really cute teddy bears?

After that, I caught the bus to go to church. The Catholic church downtown has an English mass once a month and this mass actually fell on Plam Sunday. It was a bit weird because it was only the priest, me, a British guy and his daughter. Basically, the priest said Stephanie you will do the first reading and Peter you will do the second reading. lol. Yeah we had to do the readings because we were the only 2 there besides the child. lol. I guess it can be considered one of the strangest masses I went to. It was cool though.

At the end, the British guy asked the priest if the English mass is usually so small. The priest said that it usually had like 7 or 8 people. The British guy just came from Fukouka (the main city on this island [Kyushu] ) and he said that the masses there had like 200 people. Whoah!!! By the way, there is a church in my area, but I haven't found it yet. This place is like a maze. I need to go looking for it. :)

After that, I went shopping. I went to the Starbucks downtown to buy a cute mug that I had seen before in my neighborhood Starbucks, but it was now sold out. I was really happy to see the mug in the downtown one, so I bought it. I think that I am making like a collection of Starbucks mugs. I have collected 4 since I have been here. Anyway, then I went to Miyako City (a small mall/bus station near my part of town). There I bought a new handbag, since I needed one for the spring/summer and I bought my mom a birthday present.

I need to send my mom the present along with some t-shirts I ordered from the Victorias Secret website that don't fit me. They're cute and basic, which will be great for her. I also need to send Marcos a magazine from here as his birthday present. lol. I'm on a budget. lol. It's cool though because it has Zac Efron on the cover and inside it has pictures of the new Harry Potter movie. I also need to send out some cards for Easter.

Anyway, let my backtrack back to Sunday. I went a little bit off topic. lol.

When I got back home, I started ironing and watching Slumdog Millionaire, which is a great movie. Suddenly, everything started shaking, so I unplugged the iron and got in between the door. As I was doing this, the shaking stopped. Yes, I experienced my first earthquake. It was like a magnitude 4 earthquake. However, it was only like 30 seconds (it stopped as soon as it started) and Kim and Tatum didn't even know it had happened. Kim was surprised when Asha and I told her about it. Tatum said that she was outside and saw a house shaking but it stopped really fast, so she had thought it was strange at the time but had forgotten all about it.

Anyway, do you guys remember that commercial that I posted the other day about the filled donut holes. It's the commercial where the girl is singing "Angel, Angel" . Well I had to buy it so that Monica, Eric and I could try it. I actually ate one on Friday, but decided to get a box of them, so that they could try it as well.

The donuts come in Strawberry, Custard and Chocolate filling. They are DELICIOUS. I'll post the pictures later on.

Sweet Dream or a Beautiful Nightmare

Before I continue with my weekend post stuff, let me post another Japanese commercial that's on right now. You know I love to post commercials. lol.

Anyway, in Japan Beyonce does the commercial for Crystal Geyser Water. Here is the commercial:

Plenty of Sunshine Headed My Way...

I have to admit, my weekend was pretty darn good. Don't be jealous (Diva Snap!).

On Friday night, I finally ate some Korean food. YUMMMMM Korean food. First, Kim, Asha and I went to the new Korean restaurant in the city called Hot Pepper. However, when we opened the door, we realized that it was completely full. We ended up going to the other Korean restaurant close by. The food was delicious, especially the Kimchi Pancake we had. Yummmm, I am drooling just thinking about it. Then, we ended our night at the coffee shop chain, Tullys.

I wanted to go to bed early because I had a Japanese lesson in the morning, but I ended up being on the phone (Skype) with Kim and Asha until 2 AM. There was a reason for this. When Asha arrived home, another ALT called her saying that he was drunk and if he could go over and talk (something like that). I'm not exactly sure what happened, but all I know was that Asha called us because she was a bit afraid. Apparently, this other ALT went to her door in boxers and a t-shirt (he lives in the same apartment building) ringing her door bell non-stop and banging on her door. Asha told him to leave because it was late and he was drunk. He insisted on going in and talking to her,so banged on the door for a bit until he decided to go back home. Asha was both embarrassed because of her neighbors and because the entire episode kind of shook her a bit.

I think that the other ALT didn't understand why Asha and Kim were pissed at him the next day. In his mind, he was just trying to talk to his friend. However, in a girl's POV, it's strange when you tell a guy to leave and he continues to pound on your door and ring your bell. It wasn't cool, but maybe after talking to them, he understands that what he did wasn't right. At least I hope he understands. I think that it was bad judgment on his part, but he should mature and learn from it.

The strange part was that Kim today had a dream that he was doing the same thing to her. lol.

Anyway, on Saturday morning, I had my Japanese lesson (I switched it from Tuesday to Saturday last week). Since it was Saturday morning, I was a little out of it. Then, I got a call from Paul asking if I wanted to do a cosplay thing in the city. I haven't done cosplay in a long time and I kind of don't feel like starting it here. lol. He also asked if I was going to the Pillow Fight. Yes, there was a pillow fight going on in the park that was being done by a group of ALTs, but I was way too lazy to get up and do that. I also wasn't really into it. Could you imagine if my students saw me and took pictures of me? "Mom, look she teaches me English". Yeah, I skipped on that.
I ended up talking to Kim and Asha on Skype for like 3 hours.

Anyway, I ended up going to their side of town in a taxi, which was like 24 bucks and I still got a bit lost. lol. Then we went to dinner at PoPos, where we had awesome taco rice, cesar salad and seafood pasta. After that, we went to karaoke. We did karoke for over 4 hours. lol. At first we ordered a karaoke room for 2 hours, but we ended up extending it because we were having so much fun. We got there at 9:30 PM and ended up only leaving at 2 AM.

Here are some good Artists to Karaoke to:
Ace of Base
Britney Spears
Kelly Clarkson
Destinys Child
Utada
Heart
Bon Jovi
Andrew W K "Kiseki"
Aha "Take On Me"
Barry Manilow and Phil Collins of course
Aqua
Paul Abdul "Straight Up"
Spice Girls
Pat Benatar
Natalie Imbrugalia "Torn"
Disney Songs
Akon
and many, many, many more

Karaoke is hours of fun. :)
Monica would not approve that list. lol.

We then ended up taking taxis home. My taxi driver was kind of confused about where I lived, but he was extrememly genki (hyper), so it was all cool.

My Sunday post will come later with pictures.

Music Listening to AT the Moment: "Say My Name"- Destiny's Child

Dancing Chairs: School Stuff 101

Since the teachers all know what they will be teaching starting on the 20th, they now have switched their desks, in order to be close to other teachers in their grade. They usually don't switch the ALT desk, so I'm fine. However, there is another ALT who comes her one day a week. The desk in front of me was used by any guest ALTS until now. However, now they put a Japanese (Japanese language) teacher in front of me and moved the other ALT to the other side of the room. I like how everyone was waiting for the ALTS to be mad at this, but we don't really care. I'm actually excited by the move. The Japanese teacher is young (probably around my age) and although her English isn't great, she isn't scared to talk to me. We usually don't understand each other, but the English teachers that sit to my left tend to help us out. She also asks a lot of questions like "How do you say this in English?". She told me that she wanted to improve her English and I told her that I wanted to improve my Japanese.
I think I kind of hurt her feelings today though because I finally finished my Japanese assignment for tomorrow's lesson with Maki, which was to write about my day in Japanese. She noticed that I was doing Japanese homework and told me that she would check it over. However, my Japanese is soooo bad that I didn't want her to see the disaster that is my paper. Although she insisted, I said no. lol. Maybe one day when I am more confident I will let her look over my stuff before class.

Let me back track now. The day of the desk switch, my new supervisor said "I'm sorry, I know that you will miss the ALT sitting next to you (as if she was going far away)". I said that it was Fine. He was like "Really?". lol. I don't know why he was so surprised.

Then today another English teacher told me to inform the other ALT that her desk had been moved, so that she wouldn't be surprised when she arrived on Monday. I told her that I had contacted her already and I believed it would be better for the other ALT anyway because she wanted to improve her Japanese and this would help her. That English teacher was really surprised about my reaction as well.

Did they think that we would get angry and start complaning to the principal or something? lol.

Anyway, today I had to do the lesson plan for the introduction class for OC1. SInce I have been doing mostly grammar classes until now, I have been a bit nervous about these new classes, but excited as well. I had to do my lesson plan and worksheet a million times (ok maybe I'm exaggerating) until it finally got a thumbs up by one of the teachers. I was happy though because my last draft was much better than my first. After I finished, I gave a copy to all the teachers who will be working with me on OC1 because they will have a meeting about the lesson on the 7th of April. Here is hoping that they like it.

I also have a 3rd year OC class with a new teacher that was just transferred in. I have no idea what I'm going to do with that class. Oh boy! The only advantage I have is that I know those students because they were in my 2nd year class.

It's 4:30 PM on a Friday. What am I still doing at school? Let me go home. :)

Hoping that Laughing Burns Many Calories.

Hey Everyone,

I started my day well. I got up a little bit earlier and went to Starbucks for breakfast. Yummmmmyyyyy!!!

Last night was the Welcome Party for the English Department at school. I have to admit that I had a lot of fun. One of the new teachers is really funny and cracks jokes every couple of minutes.

The teachers have been in meetings all day yesterday and today. Basically I am getting a new supervisor. My new supervisor is actually a teacher I really like. He is very sweet and has been really nice to me since I have arrived. I was happy to hear it was him.
I'm also not going to do all those grammar classes I have been doing for the last 8 months. Instead I'm going to do OC (Oral Communications) classes and I'll be working with the 1st years more (high school here is 3 years). Yipee!!! That means fun games and worksheets instead of trying to answer hard grammar questions that I can't understand. SCORE!!!
However, that also means that I have to step up my game and be more creative, so that the classes go well and the students have fun communicating in English.

Moving ON---- Last night I watched the last episode of Boys Before (Over) Flowers.


SPOILERS



It was really sweet. It ended like any typical drama ends, with a marriage proposal. I felt bad for Yoon Ji hoo though. He really loved Geum Jan Di. I'm thinking that I should watch Meteor Garden (Taiwanese version), but I need some time in between. If I do watch Meteor Garden, then that would mean that I would have watched 3 versions of the same drama. lol. Sad!

Listening to At the Moment: Boys Over Flowers Soundtrack

Partying It Up

Today is a cold and rainy day. Last week it was pretty nice, so the school put all their kerosene heaters away. However, this week it's been chilly and what makes it worse is that there are no heaterｓ. Geez!!!


Last night、 it was the school's farewell party for the teachers who are being transferred out. The hall that was rented out in the hotel nearby, the same one that was used for the end of the year party, had round tables. However, the guests of honor, which were the people that are leaving, were at a long table in the side of the room.

The party started at 6:30. When we got there, we picked letters randomly from a box, which told us where to sit. I did this 3 times because they wanted me to have at least one other English speaker at my table. I was greatful for that. Then, we go to our seats. The party officially starts with a toast. We all get our glasses and say "Kanpai" (Cheers!!!).

Here is a rule to follow. We always pour the drink for the person next to us. This means that once the drinks hit the table, you do not pour the drink for yourself. Instead, you pour the drink for the person next to you and they will pour the drink for you.

Throughout the evening, everyone would go to the guests of honor and pour drinks into their cups, say some words of encouragement and good wishes and move on to the next person. Usually, people would say "Gambatte Kudasai" (Please do your best) and a little bit of small talk, depending on how close they were to that person. The guests of honor, would take sips of their drink every time somone would come up, which was constantly, in order for there to be space to pour more drinks. My vice principal, who is also leaving, had a hidden bucket next to him, so that he could pour out his drink every once in awhile. It would allow us to fill up his cup. lol.

There were also speechs by everyone who was leaving.

In the end, everyone got in a circle, put their arms around each other and sang the school song. Then, we do Bonzai before going home. I guess this is how they end all enkais (drinking parties) because the other big enkai I went to ended the same way.
It's a little bit surreal when we get into the circle because at school, I'm usually in my own little bubble and don't really realize anything around me. However, when we get into a circle, that's when I realize "Wow I'm the only foreigner here. Everyone else here is Japanese." lol. It's such a stupid thing to think because it's so obvious, but I usually forget about how different my surroundings our now compared to my life prior to coming here.

Anyway, before leaving, everyone got into two lines and lifted their arms, so that the guests of honor could walk under them. The men were at the end by the door because they would throw up the guys who were leaving 3 times in the air. Kim said that her school also throws up the girls, but mine only lifts the guys. However, the last person walking out of the door was a female Japanese teacher. The male gym teacher was really drunk and told the guys to throw her up as well. She was so embarrassed, but the guys gave in and threw her up.
It was interesting to see this all take place.

At the end of the night, most of the teachers went to after parties but I decided to go home because I had to go to work the next day.

This morning, there were only like 3 guys in the teacher's office and they were all the way at the other end. My end was completely dark. lol. Yup, I'm the one who turned on the lights. Most people took nenkyu (vacation time) a few hours in the morning or just took the entire day off. It's Spring Break, so it's the perfect time to do that. I want to save my vacation days for later on though.

On Wednesday it's the English Department's Welcome Party for the new teachers. Hmmm...I might go to the after party for that one.

Harry Potter Personality Quiz

Jedisakora had this quiz posted on her LJ and I thought it would be interesting to take. The quiz can be found here at Quizilla.
I got Quiet Nerd. lol. I'm definitely a nerd, but not really a quiet one. It got half of my personality right.
Anyway, here are the results.

What's Your Reputation at Hogwarts (26 different characters


Quiet Nerd:
House: Ravenclaw
Best Friend: Hermione.

Gryffindors

Harry: Wants you to speak up more during class because he loves your voice and thinks you are quite intelligent.
Ron: Hopes that you get less like Hermione as you get older.
Hermione: Loves that you study as much as she does.
Oliver Wood: Doesn't know who you are.
Fred and George Weasley: Try to get you to play pranks with them to crack your tough shell.
Seamus Finnigan: Doesn't bother trying to get to know you.
Neville Longbottom: Is too busy dreaming about Ginny.
Dean Thomas: Bought you a book for Christmas because he had a crush on you.
Ginny Weasley: Tried to burn that book so that you would have more time to spend on being normal.
Parvati Patil: Is always too busy flirting with the Gryffindor boys to notice you.
Padma Patil: Same as Parvati.

Hufflepuffs

Cedric Diggory: Doesn't know who you are.

Ravenclaws

Cho Chang: Same as Cedric.

Slytherins

Draco Malfoy: Picks on you as often as possible because he knows it hurts your feelings.
Crabbe: Don't know you.
Goyle: Same as Crabbe.
Pansy Parkinson: Is always picking on you with Draco.
Marcus Flint: Wants to be smart like you, but knows he can't so he makes fun of you for it.
Blaise Zabini: Is the only Slytherin who's somewhat nice to you.

Teachers

Dumbledore: Tries to get you to like new things so that you won't be so shy.
Professor McGonagall: Likes how you don't talk during class.
Professor Flitwick: Knows you are afraid of showing you're true skills in class and tries to get you to demonstrate them in class.
Professor Trelawney: Predicts a lonely life for you.
Professor Snape: Forgets your name on a daily basis.
Filch: Doesn't even know you exist.


Music Listening to At the Moment: Placebo- "Meds"

Mei-chan no Shitsuji (Mei-chan's Butler) Season 1 Review

Last night I watched the last episode of Mei-chan no Shitsuji
( メイちゃんの執事). The English translation is Mei's Butler or Mei-chan's Butler.
For more info and links to the episodes, you can go to MySoju

SPOILERS AHEAD

Mei-chan no Shitsuji is about a poor girl, Mei, whose parents die and she finds out that she is the heiress to a fortune. She then goes to a school for rich girls and every girl has their own butler, including her. Mei's butler is called Rihito and he is played by Mizushima Hiro, who was also in Hana Kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e) and Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend). Rihito's younger brother Kento is actually Mei's childhood friend. He ends up going to the school to become a butler in training in order to stay close to her.





The show was cute, although sometimes it had its corny moments. I think it's worth checking out if you are into Japanese tv series. It's much more directed to a younger, teenage audience though, so be warned if you don't like that type of thing. If you want something more mature, check out the series Love Shuffle. All of my students know Mei-chan no Shitsuji and think that it's funny that I watch it too. lol. Story of my life. Anyway, the end of the series was cute and creepy at the same time. In the last minutes of the final episode Rihito kisses Mei and then says "This is our little secret". He says that because it's forbidden for a butler and student to have a relationship at the school. However, since he plays a man much older than her, ( I mean he is a butler of a teenage girl) its also kind of creepy. If Mizushima looked older and not as cool, it would have looked uber duper weird. However, since everyone thinks he's cool here, the ending was perfect for a lot of viewers and it opened up the doors for the next season, especially since Kento went to study abroad in England to be a high class butler, like his older brother, in order to steal the girl, Mei, away for himself. Ok, so although I'm not sure how I feel about the end of season 1, I still want to see how it continues on to season 2.

Music Listening to At the Moment: the Veronicas- "All I Have"

Goodbye! Farewell! Sayonara! Until Next Time!

Spring is here, although it's been kind of cold all weekend and today, so it doesn't feel very springy. Anyway, with spring comes flowers and in Japan that means plenty of beautiful cheery blossoms (sakura). Over here, people go sakura flower viewing because it is so beautiful. They even have a name for this called hanami ( 花見）、which literally means flower viewing.

Anyway, although Sunday was a little bit chilly, really cloudy and even rained a bit, we went to go see the sakura nearby at Takuoka Castle. It was so beautiful. It left me speechless, which is a hard thing to do. lol. I almost got teary eyed because it was so beautiful and it was one of those moments were you tell yourself, "Oh my gosh, I am in freakin Japan. I can't believe it!" You would be surprised how easily you forget once your life becomes routine here as well.

This is an example of the before and after picture of the castle.
This is Takuoka Castle in the Fall



This is the castle in the spring.



If you want to take a look at more of my pictures of the cherry blossoms, you can go here to my Flickr Account.




Today, it was the Farewell Ceremony for the teachers who are being transferred out. Basically, all the teachers came into the main teacher's office 30 minutes before the ceremony. The principal said each one of their names and where they were going. We all clapped and bowed. Then, they made their way to the gym with all of the other teachers and students.

Today it's kind of cold and rainy, which means that the gym is cold, including the floor. Why do I never remember my indoor sneakers when I really need them? I was a bit jealous of the teachers who remembered to bring their indoor sneakers because my feet were freezing. lol.

Anyway, each teacher that was leaving gave a speech, including our vice-principal, who is going to be the principal at Alex's school. There are like 16 or 17 teachers in total who are going, including 2 who are retiring. This means that it took a really, really long time to get through all of the speeches, especially since many of the speeches were like 10 minutes or more, or at least that's what it felt like.

One teacher went all out for his speech. He spoke for like 20 minutes, he had visual aids, he made the student's do pair work, and he even had his own farewell song playing at the end of his speech. The next teacher who came up after him made a speech that was less than 2 minutes long. I was greatful to the second guy. lol.

Anyway by the end of it, some teacher's whose friends were leaving, were crying. A few of the kids were also emotional. I noticed that when the school band was playing a farewell song for the teachers, one flute player could barely play because she was crying so much. She had to keep wiping away her tears. Actually while I am writing this, she came into the teacher's room still teary eyed and asking one of the teachers, who is going away, to take a picture with her. Awwwwww!!!

There were also a lot of graduates here today. It's crazy to see them now. A month ago they were all wearing their uniforms and had straight, black hair in ponytails. Now they had dyed hair, perms, ridiculously high high-heeled shoes, and crazy clothing. It's cool to see how far the kids go with their looks because for so many years they can't do anything, not even put highlights in their hair, so the minute they graduate, they do everything and anything that they can to change their look. lol.

Oh another thing I didn't know about farewells is that the people who are leaving usually leave behind presents for the other teachers. Today, the mailboxes were all full of presents. I can't wait to see what I have, but I also feel a bit bad that I didn't buy anything for the English teachers who are leaving. Crap!

I have been a bit confused about why they are always transferring the teachers, but today one of the English teachers gave me an answer to that. He said that they don't want teachers to end up being too lazy, laid back (I guess too comfortable with their position) at a school. He also said it's because by transferring teachers, they will be unable to make very strong connections with one school, which would allow them to do anything they want. I guess it's a system of keeping teachers on their toes.

It still kind of sucks because they are not really stable. They don't really know where they are going to move next. Some teachers end up transferring a couple of hours away, so they have to live apart from their families during the weekdays because their families can't move with them. However, some teachers get excited because they are moving closer to their families or they are moving to a school that they know well and know the people there. It all depends on the person and the location that they are being placed in.

Anyway, today is the Farewell Teacher's Party at night. It should be fun! :)

エンゼル (Angel), エンゼル (Angel) wuah, wuah, wuah

Eric today showed me another cute commercial. It's for Mister Donut's, which is a donut chain kind of like Dunkin' Donuts back home. Anyway, it's promoting a donut hole that has a filling. Believe me, this little number will get stuck in your head quickly.

I should really turn on my tv more so that I can watch all of the commercials.



Tell me your reactions. Hate it or love it? It's really making me want to go to Mister Donuts to try it out. It looks kind of yummy.

I Feel Muppety Today!

"Kermit, you need to take care of your eyes. You have wonderful eyes. They are like......two ping-pong balls floating in a sea of mildew."
~~Grover


Today Eric, Monica and I were watching the latest episode of 30 Rock. In the episode, Kenneth pictured everyone as muppets. Eric said "I wonder what I would look like as a muppet?" That got me thinking, so I borrowed his laptop and wrote in my Twitter "If I were a muppet I would be bright pink with purple hair. I would also have cute dimples. One can imagine."
Eric read my post and then wrote in his twitter " If i were a muppet I would have angel hair and my skin would be Jewish purple. I would have a giant triangle nose."

After the episode ended, Monica decided to draw us all as muppets.

Here is my picture as a muppet:



Here are Eric's and Monica's muppet faces.





Aren't they cute? Good Job Monica! :)

Boys Before Flowers, of course. Is that even a question?

“I’m so busy that I don’t even remember that you didn’t call me for 3 days and 13 hours!” -Goo Jun Pyo

I am a bit addicted to Asian dramas. I feel as if this past year my anime addiction has turned into a tv drama addiction. lol. There always has to be something, right?

Anyway here are two Asian Dramas that I really like.


Hana Yori Dango 花より男子　(Japanese) & Boys Before Flowers 꽃보다 남자 (Korean)
They are 2 versions of the same story. lol.

-Some spoilers


A few months ago my obsession was Hana Yori Dango (Japanese Drama). It's based on the manga series. It's basically about a rich boy (Domyoji) with a power trip who falls for the one girl (Makino) who doesn't let him get his way. The drama series was great and of course how can you not love Oguri Shun, the actor who plays Hanazawa Rui, the love rival and best friend to Domyoji. Oh boy, I wanted him to end up with the girl at the end because he is soooo much cooler. lol. Anyway, I digress.
If you want to check out more information on Hana Yori Dango read on:
Hana Yori Dango has 2 seasons and a movie. The first season has 9 episodes and the second season has 11 episodes. The movie takes places after the 2nd season. For more information on Hana Yori Dango and all of its episodes, you can go to MySoju . You can also watch the first part of the first episode down here, so check it out:










Anyway, my new obsession is Boys before Flowers, which is the Korean version of the same drama. Yup, it's basically the same story, except it's in Korean with Korean actors (obviously) and a bit of changes here and there to the story line. I have to admit though that I was way more into the Japanese version than the Korean version. Maybe it's because I saw that one first.

In the Korean version, the rich boy is called Goo Jun Pyo. The poor girl he becomes interested in is Geum Jan Di and the love rival/ best friend if Yoon Ji Hoo
There is one more episode left and I can't wait to see what happens next. While the "oh-so-beautiful-boy" in the Japanese version was Oguri Shun, in the Korean version it's Lee Min-ho (Goo Jun Pyo).

The Korean version has one season so far with 24 episodes. I'm waiting for the 24th (last) episode right now. For more info and all of the episodes click on MySoju
To check out the first part of the first episode, look below

BoysBeforeFlowers01.1
by jangchris0101

If you guys haven't watched any of these, you should definitely go watch them. I recommend watching the Japanese version first.

Baby, Come Back To Me

Hey Everyone,

American i-tunes has Utada's new music video "Come Back to Me" for free this week. I thought that was pretty cool.

I bought Utada's new album yesterday from American i-tunes.
The album was like 3,000 Yen (about $30) in the music/book store Tsutaya. In Japan i-tunes it was 2,000 Yen (about $20). However, in American i-tunes it was $7.99.
lol of course I would get it from the US i-tunes.

I've heard it through and it's pretty good. I really like the song "Apple and Cinnamon".

Yesterday I also found a song that I had been looking for. During the cultural festival (around September) one of the students sang a really pretty song. I even recorded a little bit of it on my camera because the student sang it so well. Anyway, ever since then, I've been wondering what song it was. Yesterday, I finally realized it was an old Utada Hikaru song called "First Love". Mystery solved. lol.

I'm basically alone in the teacher's office again. There is only like 2 other people. I wonder what's going on. I never know. lol.

It's Spring Break: Go Have Fun!!!

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."
— Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Ok, so it's technically spring break, so why do I see the students in the morning and they even have cleaning time before lunch before they go off. I was so confused by this.


I told my supervisor that I didn't understand spring break here. It's not really spring break, is it?

He started laughing and he said. "Ummm...everyone realizes that, but no one says anything. We especially don't say it to the students because it would make them sad.The reason it's called spring break is because the kid's have off in the afternoons."


LAME!!!

Listening to Songs/Chillin in the Office, Dread/ When Is It Lunch Time- (Haiku Time)

"On the list of things that are not ok, that is REALLY not ok!" - Wilt (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends)


Monica and I were kind of bored last week, so we started e-mailing haikus to each other(5-7-5), although we were sitting across from each other.
First we did haikus with no themes at all. It was just us writing to each other.

Steph:

Whoah Nelly, it's hot
I like it burning it up
Mmmmm coffee is good


Nelly of course refers to Nelly's song "Hot in Here". Yes, my epertise are soooo great that I even have great references in my haiku.

As you can probably tell, I spelled expertise wrong, so this is how she responded.

Monica:

Epertise is great...
But you can't really beat this,
Womanizer uh!

Yes that was a burn on your last comment and a reference to the recent pop hit by Britney Spears.

I, of course, had to respond back, so I did 3 in a row.

Steph:

Where have you been, huh
Under a rock in the sea
New release is Circus


Burnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!


Pop music is great
Especially when they fall
On their big butocks

Yes, I spelled buttocks wrong. lol.


Sorry writing ability is not so great right now

Did you know this bit
Keanu Reeves is mad hot
But looks a bit dull


After this, we decided to make rules. We would pick a noun, verb and adjective and compete against each other to see what we would come up with. These limitations made our haikus a bit more interesting. lol.

First: noun- dog Verb- spell Adjective: Sparkly

Steph:

Your dog face is sparkly
It makes me want to pinch it
At least you can spell

Monica:

Glittery butt dog,
Casts sparkly little poo spells,
That don't smell pretty.

Poo reference! Yeah!

Next- Noun: diarrhea Verb: run Adj: long

Steph:

diahrea blues
As it runs its course through me
Oh how long its been

Monica:

Strange mental hiccups,
I have brain diarrhea!
Long running giggles.

Last one: Noun: sex toy Verb: Vibrate (although I kind of used it wrong) Adj: sweaty

Steph:

Sex Toy Wonderland
The store had good vibrations
His sweaty palm, gross

Monica:

Sex toy shopping spree,
Awkward, sweaty transaction
Free to vibrate, Wee!

Now the important question: Who do you think should be considered the winner?

Japanese Commercials, Gotta Love Them :)

I have a funny commercial with Matsuda Shota (松田翔太 ) . He is in Hana Yori Dango and Love Shuffle. He is adorable even in something like this. lol.

This is like the skinny guys vs. the bigger, muscly guys (something like that).

Eric really liked it and showed it to me and I thought it was cute too.

Cross Cultural Influences From The Past

I'm a Portuguese-American living in Japan. This is actually the first time I have been in Asia. Since I have been here (8 months), I have learned about a lot of cross cultural things between Portugal and Asia (specifically Japan) that are so integrated into the cultures that we don't even notice them anymore.

Food:

Tempura- Tempura is a traditional Japanese dish of deep fried vegetables and/or seafood/ fish. It is deliciousness to the extreme. Sweet potato and pumpkin tempura are amazing.
Anyway, I have learned that tempura was brought here from Portuguese missionaries and traders.
Here is the information I found on Wikipedia. You know how I like wikipedia.

According to Wikipedia : Tempura was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century by early Portuguese[1] missionaries and traders.[2] The word tempura, or the technique of dipping fish and vegetables into a batter and frying them, comes from the word "tempora," a Latin word meaning "times", "time period" used by both Spanish and Portuguese missionaries to refer to the Lenten period or Ember Days (ad tempora quadragesimae), Fridays, and other Christian holy days. Ember Days or quattuor tempora refer to holy days when Catholics avoid meat and instead eat fish or vegetables. Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, loved tempura so much that he apparently died after eating too much of it according to lore. The idea that the word "tempura" may have been derived from the Portuguese noun tempero, meaning a spicy condiment or peppery seasoning, or from the verb temperar, meaning "to season" has not been substantiated.[2] There is still today a dish in Portugal very similar to tempura called peixinhos da horta, "garden fishies." However, the Japanese language could easily have assumed the word "tempero" as is, without changing any vowels as both languages are phonetically similar.



カステラ　(kasutera) - It's a popular Japanese sponge cake, which is considered a specialty in Nagasaki. Apparently it comes from the Portuguese Pão de Castela, which is similar to pão-de-ló.

According to Wikipedia: 　In the 16th century, the Portuguese reached Japan, and soon started trade and missionary work. Nagasaki was then the only Japanese port open for foreign commerce. The Portuguese introduced many then-unusual things, such as guns, tobacco, and pumpkins - and castella. It was able to be preserved for a long period of time, and so was useful for the sailors who were out on the sea for months. In the Edo Period, in part due to the cost of sugar, it was an expensive dessert. When the Emperor of Japan's envoy was invited, the Tokugawa Shogunate presented the Castella.[1] Over the years, the taste changed to suit Japanese palates.　

Now for the opposite: Tea : In Portuguese, we say chá for tea. I was surprised when I heard people using the same word here　ちゃ　（　or in kanji 茶　） cha for tea. I later learned the tea is cha in Bengali, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Japanese. According to Wiki, " In 1557, Portugal established a trading port in Macau and word of the Chinese drink "chá" spread quickly" to Portugal. I thought that was interesting that all of these countries were using the same word because it spread from China.


Weapons

Since I live in Kyushu, I thought this was interesting. The island of Tanegashima, a southern island of Kyushu belonging to Kagoshima prefecture, is where guns were first introduced into Japan. Apparently a Portuguese ship got blown off course, landed in Tanegashima, and the rest is history.

Religion (Roman Catholic)
Portuguese and Spanish missionaries were the first to bring Christian beliefs to Japan. When I went to Roman Catholic Mass here, the people called it ミサ　(misa), which is the same word we use for mass in Portugal. Since it's written in katakana, I just figured that it probably came from the first missionaries who entered Japan and then stuck. If anyone knows if this is true or not or has any more info, please tell me.

More info in Wikipedia of course. lol. You can find it here and here.

________________________________________


I think that it's interesting that encounters that took place hundreds of years ago, can effect the countries, their cultures and/or languages so much. I think that now we take it for granted because with the new global age, we can be connected quickly to a person and learn about another culture so quickly through the internet and other forms of media, so we are constantly being influenced by other countries and vice and versa. However, this was even true hundreds of years ago, but in a smaller scale. It's interesting how these cultural things were spread and how they have lasted over the ages by being integrated to other cultures.


I wish I had moew information on how Portugal was influenced by Japan.
If anyone has any info about that, please share it with me.
Actually if you have any info about cross cultural connections that have lasted after hundreds of years, please share that too. I always find that interesting.

On a funny note, sometimes I find words that sound similar, but are completely different.
For example, in Japanese Sakana ( 魚　) means fish. In Portugal, we have a similar sounding word called Sacana, except it means devious or a**hole. lol. 　

Teacher Transfer Drama

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. ~Carol Sobieski and Thomas Meehan, Annie

Let me take the time to rewind a bit. I'm rewinding it to the 19th of March. The 19th of March was a very important day here at school because that's when the teacher transfer calls took place.

Ok, so here in Japan, they move around teachers. The teachers don't ask to be transferred, but when they are told to do it, they must pack up and leave. Sometimes, the transfer is for a school close by and sometimes it can be like 3 hours away. If you are being transferred, then it can be anywhere in the prefecture.

Anyway, all week 2 English teachers thought they were being transferred. One of them was a young teacher who got married not too long ago and another is a teacher whose wife had a baby a few months ago. Both of them really didn't want to move. The teacher who got married was really sad the whole week. It was a bit painful to see her because you knew she was worried. The good thing was that neither one was transferred. Woohoo!!!

I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me go back to March 19, lunch time. During lunch, all the teacher's were in the office, eating their lunch silently and waiting for the phone calls. It's eerily quite and the tension is high. My bento was curry, which I love, and the food didn't even fall right because I was nervous that a couple of the English teachers that I really like were leaving.

This is how it works. The principal gets the calls and then he calls the Vice principal, who is in the teacher's office. Every　time the phone rings, everyone turns to the VP, waiting for a name to come out of his mouth. When it does, that teacher goes to find out where they are placed. Then, they come back (many teary eyed) telling us where they are being transferred to.

It's a really nerve-wrecking situation, especially for those teachers who didn't want to be transferred, but are being forced to.

Right after all of this, classes continue so we must put on our happy faces and keep our spirits (genkiness) up.

That was a pretty crazy situation to go through. At the end of it all, we found out that two English teachers are leaving. One cool young teacher is going, but she already knew she was leaving because she just became a full time teacher recently, so there was a good chance that they were going to place her somewhere else. She was happy with her placement because it was a school that she had worked at in the past.
The other English teacher wasn't actually transferred. She decided to quit after this school year.
This meant Farewell Drinking Party for the English Department. Woohoo!!! But Goodbye to 2 great teachers, nooooo!!!